Baked (Jacket) Potatoes

Use potatoes marked as “Baking Potatoes” or general purpose/floury potatoes (i.e not new potatoes or salad/waxy potatoes).

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C Fan (0r 190˚C Conventional).
2. Prick the skin of the potatoes all over with a fork, drizzle the potatoes with olive oil and rub it all over the skin.  Sprinkle sea salt over the potatoes and put them straight onto the rack in the oven for approximately an hour (the exact time depends on the size of the potato).
   
3. The skin should be golden and crispy and if you put a knife into the centre of the potato it should feel soft and fluffy.
   
4. (These are lovely with butter and chopped spring onions or parsley.  You can also scoop out the centres and mix the scooped potato with cheese, a little mayonnaise, a drained tin of tuna and a drained tin of sweetcorn kernels. This mix can then be put back into the potato shells.)
5. You can speed the process up if you microwave the potatoes on high first for 3-4 minutes per potato and then put them into the oven for 20 minutes.  The skin won’t be quite as crispy though.